Ecco
|appearances = 5 episodes (see below) |actor = Francesca Root-Dodson }} Ecco is Jeremiah Valeska's girlfriend, assistant and proxy who devoted her life to him. Even after Jeremiah's descent into insanity, she still remained loyal to him, donning a jester costume and taking on the alias of the Mummer. She then assisted him in carrying out his plan to destroy Gotham City in order to rebuild it after his own image. After Gotham became No Man's Land, Ecco shot herself in the head to allow her old self to die, and became insane. She took on the role of the leader of a cult that praised Jeremiah and she donned a new outfit, a mask, and painted her face like a clown. In her cult, she tested those she deemed worthy by getting them to shoot each other, and only the survivors got to be "reborn" meeting Jeremiah. Biography Early Life At some point prior to her sixth birthday, Ecco's father moved out of their home. Working for Jeremiah Sometime after Jeremiah Valeska graduated from St. Ignatius, he met Ecco. Ecco helped Jeremiah commission construction for a maze like bunker. Jeremiah would remain hidden in the maze while Ecco would serve as his proxy for business meetings at the company that would employ Jeremiah. Ecco, herself, seemed reside in an apartment in the city where Jeremiah’s associates could contact her on his behalf. Sometime later, Ecco realizes that Jerome Valeska is waiting for her while entering her apartment after grocery shopping. She’s not surprised since she knew he would’ve found her sometime. He asks her where his brother, Jeremiah Valeska, is but she answers that she’ll never tell him. Jerome tries to threaten her with a knife but she knocks him out immediately, she then calls Jeremiah and tells him that she’s got Jerome, she eventually transfers him using a cage. Later, she walks Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock to Jeremiah, while talking they realize that the Legion of Horribles is inside the building to free Jerome and kidnap Jeremiah, as seen in a camera screen, and that Ecco has been hypnotized by Jervis Tetch. Jim and Harvey are ready to escape but Jeremiah tells them that he won’t leave Ecco behind, since she’s devoted her life to him. The two tell him that they’re taking him out first, and then they’ll return inside to help Ecco, anyway, while escaping, they meet Ecco and, while hypnotized, she gets into a fight with Jim and Harvey. She easily stuns them and she takes Jeremiah to Jerome. On their way to Jerome, they meet Harvey again, Ecco tries to make Jeremiah as her shield and she then hits Harvey, but Jim suddenly appears behind her back and he knocks her out hitting her in the head with a gun. Dressed in Jester clothes, Ecco shows up on her motorcycle at Jerome's grave in the Gotham Cemetery, where the Cult of Jerome gathered up to mourn the death of their leader and idol. Jongleur, the leader of the troupe, tells her that their meeting is invitation only and afterwards tries to kill Ecco by throwing a knife at her, only for the Mummer to block it with her wrist and blow an air horn. Thereupon, she immediately gains the attention of Jerome's followers and holds up a voice recording to the horn, projecting a message that Jeremiah recorded pretending to be Jerome, ordering the cult to dig his corpse up from the grave. She then waits for Jim inside Jeremiah's maze with a self-perpetuating Generator which is slowly starting to overload. When Jim arrives there, she holds a gun to his head while he’s watching a video of Jeremiah posing as Jerome. During the scene where Jeremiah pretends to choke himself as Jerome, Ecco gets momentarily distracted, allowing Jim to knock her gun away and defeat her in combat. Jim then unmasks Ecco and is shocked to find out that the attacker was in fact her, just as Jeremiah was about to reveal his true face in the tape. While Jim is being distracted by Jeremiah’s reveal, Ecco wakes up and escapes, sealing Jim in the room. Later, Ecco and Jeremiah arrive at Wayne Enterprises. She shoots two guards and she and Jeremiah both use their key cards to unlock the room where a bunch of self perpetuating generators that Jeremiah created and Bruce invested in are stored. Planning to use them as bombs in his plan to destroy and rebuild Gotham City, Jeremiah orders Ecco to load them on their truck. No Man's Land After Gotham's descent into No Man's Land, Ecco remains loyal to Jeremiah and continues to act as his accomplice and henchwoman, donning the Mummer costume to carry out his orders. Ecco breaks into the Gotham City Police Department and draws Jerome and Jeremiah's symbol on the Gotham map. Ecco overhears a woman calling through the radio for Jim Gordon and sees Jim coming up the stairs so she sneaks away unnoticed. As Jim answers the call and finds the vandalized map, Ecco watches from behind but disappears before he can see her. Cult Leader At some point, Ecco becomes the leader of a cult dedicated to Jeremiah. She dons her Mummer mask and preaches to the people who wish to become his followers. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle come upon their meeting and ponder about her identity, as it is concealed by the mask. She orders several followers away from the rest to perform a task to prove themselves worthy. Selina pledges herself in order to get closer to Jeremiah and Ecco orders her to follow the rest of the followers. As Selina leaves, Ecco whispers to one of her henchman and then proceeds to take off her mask and smile deviously, revealing that her face is now painted like a clown. Ecco goes to the recruits and explains the rules of the task to them. Each person will get one gun and one bullet. Their task is to fire the gun into the neck of the person in front of them, while the follower behind them does the same. Ecco counts from three, but toys with the followers to ensure they are paying attention. Many of the followers are killed from the shot, while a few of them survive, including Selina who blocked the gun with her claw on her glove. Ecco is upset with Selina and reveals that she had previously performed the task as well, she shot herself in the head and the bullet remained inside of her body. Ecco holds the gun to her own head and pulls the trigger, laughing maniacally as the gun clicks. Selina tells Ecco that she is insane, but Ecco denies this, saying she allowed herself to look death in the face, which allowed the old her to die. She also reveals that she is fully aware of who Selina is and she and Jeremiah have been keeping tabs on everything to do with Bruce. Ecco points the gun at Selina but Selina knocks the gun away and the two of them fight until Selina gains the upper hand, holding the gun to Ecco's head, who told her she knew she could do it and that all she needed was a little push. Bruce comes into the room, and calls out to Selina. Ecco taunts Selina, saying that her boyfriend is worried, and says she doesn't think Selina can shoot her. Selina hesitates just long enough for Ecco to knock the gun away, stab Selina in the leg, and flee. Selina catches up with Ecco just as she closed the gate behind her. Ecco mockingly waves to Selina before walking away as Selina growls in frustration. Ecco suits back up in her Mummer mask and robe and leads the recruits to Jeremiah. Jeremiah asks if these are all the new recruits and Ecco says she thought he would want quality over quantity. At first, Jeremiah begins to choke her out of what seems like anger, but then pulls her closer and examines the wound on the side of her head, noting that she has set the bar high for devotion. The two begin to dance, and Ecco informs him about Selina and Bruce and the fact that Selina can walk. She tells him that she will inform him if she is to see Selina, and adds that she will kill her. She leaves and orders the recruits to follow. Through unknown means, Selina manages to obtain Ecco's costume and uses it to trick Jeremiah and seemingly kill him. Personality Ecco was originally very stoic. She showed little to no emotion, as seen when Jerome held a knife to her face and she didn’t flinch. She is also clear, concise, and doesn’t mince words. She seems to solely focus on whatever task Jeremiah gives her. However, she will respond when asked a question as seen when Jim and Harvey asked her about the bunker. She does have a bit of an arrogant side to her as seen when she taunted Jerome about transporting him in a cage while smiling at him. Ecco's morals are questionable at best considering she seems to be whatever Jeremiah wants her to be. She tried to help him kill Jim Gordon by trapping him in the bunker with a self perpetuating generator, and killed two guards without hesitation on Jeremiah’s orders. She would even assist him in his plans to destroy Gotham, and even seemed to show some joy in Jeremiah’s plans to rebuild Gotham as she smiled when she looked upon all of the self perpetuating generators. It is later revealed that Ecco shot herself in the head, causing her to become mentally unstable. She started to worship Jeremiah like a God. She also seemed to worship Jerome by extension, claiming that her insanity was “the gift” that Jerome left for Jeremiah. As a result of her insanity, Ecco didn’t fear death, laughing maniacally as she held a gun to her head and pulled the trigger multiple times. She also cheerfully strolled around while humming, used her finger to scrap blood off the wall, and then licked her finger with the blood on it. Despite her insanity, she still maintained a bit of her stoicism as seen when she entered the GCPD and showed no reaction when she heard the radio trying to contact Jim. She also speaks softly and calmly. When she is in Jeremiah’s presence, she is very soft spoken and seems to be scared of him, although it may be more that she is afraid of disappointing or displeasing him. Ecco became gradually more unhinged after the Cataclysm, as she undertook increasingly twisted acts to prove her loyalty to Jeremiah. Physical Apperance Ecco has blonde hair that she always seems to tie up with a black ribbon. In her first appearance, she wore a grey shirt with different colours on them, a black skirt that zipped up at the back, black leggings and shoes. Ecco’s Mummer costume was a red and black jester looking outfit with a white porcelain mask. The costume was bulky and she boy armour built into it. When she broke into the GCPD, she wore her long blonde hair in a pony tail. Her final appearance consisted of her wearing white face paint with one eye brow below her eyes and smeared lipstick. She wore a white cloak with strips that were uneven and half red half black. Underneath, her hair was pinned up in to two seperate buns. She wore a sleeves black shirt, a jacket that wasn’t half red and half black and had a diamond on the back. She had pants that were also half red and half black with a diamond on the side of one, and one shoe that was red and one shoe that was black. Abilities *'Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist:' Ecco is a master of hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist, as seen during her fight with Jim and Harvey, though Jim was able to hold his own for longer than Harvey. She later fought and nearly killed Jim, only losing when he managed to knock her out. She was also able to hold her own against Selina Kyle in a fight. *'Marksmanship:' Ecco is a skilled markswoman, as seen when she shot two guards in quick succession before either of them could react. *'Skilled knife wielder:' Ecco is a skilled knife wielder, as seen when she used a pair of broken scissors against Jim Gordon. She also manged to quickly stab Selina in the leg in order to escape. *'Stealth:' Ecco was able to sneak into the GCPD without anybody seeing her. Equipment *'Mummer costume': As The Mummer, Ecco wears a jester costume with a red and black diamond design, which has body armor in the torso. She also uses a white mask that only leaves open her eyes in order to hide her face. Even after discarding her costume, Ecco still used the mask to hide her face, although the mask has become dirty and cracked on one side. *'Motorcycle': Ecco has a motorcycle that she uses as transportation. Appearances Season 4 * * Season 5 * * * Trivia *Ecco's real/ full name has not yet been revealed throughout the series, with many speculating it to be Harleen Quinzel or Alicia Hunt as she shares a striking resemblece to both characters. *Though it looks like Ecco wasn’t insane in Year Zero, Francesca Root-Dodson has stated that she believes Ecco shot herself, and became insane, prior the events of the fifth season. Notes *Ecco is heavily influenced by Harleen Quinzel alias Harley Quinn, a character created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm that was originally introduced in Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Due to the popularity of her character, she was eventually adapted into the DC Comics. She is usally depicted as accomplice and lover of the Joker, whom she met while working as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, where the Joker was her patient and consequently drove her insane. She also had her own strong solo career and was also a member of the Gotham City Sirens alongside Catwoman and Poison Ivy. Even though most of the character's original origin up to the name was changed for Ecco, she still has some things in common with Harley Quinn, such as being a henchwoman to the show's version of the Joker and donning a jester costume with a red and black diamond design, as well as later painting her face like a clown and dressing in fashions with red, black, and white. It is unclear if Ecco will become Harley Quinn in the future or is merely a reference or predecessor to the character. **Ecco called Selina "Puddin'", which is a reference to what Harley Quinn would always call the Joker. Likewise, Selina telling Ecco not to call her Puddin' could be a reference to Batman: The Animated Series, when the Joker told Harley Quinn not to call him Puddin'. * She may also be based on or a reference to Alicia Hunt from the 1989 film Batman, who was a blonde mistress and accomplice to Jack Napier/The Joker and later wore a porcelain mask due to a disfigurement upon her face, much like Ecco's Mummer mask. **The porcelain mask worn by Alicia Hunt and Ecco is based on a mask worn by the disfigured character Christiane from the 1960 horror movie Eyes Without a Face. *Her name may possibly be a homage to the character of Isabelle Cheranova aka Echo, who was a Russian assassin that fought Batman during the events of the No Man's Land comic crossover event, an event that served as partial basis for the last episode of Season 4 as well as the entirety of Season 5. * Even though her alter ego remains unnamed during her appearance in A Dark Knight: That Old Corpse, her alias "Mummer" was revealed in the episode's end credits. *Francesca Root-Dodson only auditioned for the episode A Dark Knight: Mandatory Brunch Meeting with a Russian accent, she didn’t know yet that she was going to reprise her role. In fact, she was supposed to appear in only one episode, then it was chosen to call her back. *Francesca was called back to read the script of Penguin, Our Hero to make sure she was a good fit for playing Ecco after she shot herself, since the character in Season 4 was the opposite of what she's been in Season 5. *Francesca has stated that she watched some clips of Suicide Squad and Batman: The Animated Series to have an idea of what Ecco's voice was supposed to sound like, she eventually chose to go for her own way about the character's voice pitch, and then the physical and facial movements. *Francesca revealed that Ecco adores and loves Jeremiah, as she thinks he is the bee's knees. She said that she thinks that their relationship is not really healthy. *Ecco's makeup is a sort of reference to the movie A Clockwork Orange. *Francesca said that she got to keep Ecco's outfit from A Dark Knight: Mandatory Brunch Meeting when the filming of the series wrapped up. References Category:Antagonists Category:Allusions to other Batman media Category:Former protagonists